Sunday, March 3, 2013

Free Markets Aren't Free, Someone Pays.

A lot of Americans are living a precarious life. Politicians don't. Politicians have something called job security. If they don't get re-elected they sit on the board of a corporation, start a "non-profit" or they work for a lobby and lobby more politicians. It is important to understand this. Politicians do not care about anyone who is middle class or working class.
Americans are most concerned with three things food, shelter and their job. What Americans need most are jobs and job security. Instead, what gets rammed down our throats? Austerity called the sequester.
This managed market economy we have in the U.S. has been in recession. So it really makes sense that during a time when the economy is in a precarious position, you choke it more. What really doesn't make sense is that Jack Lew, Obama's chief of staff and former Citigroup bankster, dreamed up this sequester,. thinking that it would never happen because the cuts would be so horrible that Republicans would never want to see it happen.
GOTea Party loves cuts. It seems strange, after this do-nothing Congress has fought President Obama on every single thing he's tried to do, that he didn't expect that they wouldn't do anything to stop this austerity. Unless of course, the Presidents intention was to make the poor and middle class suffer more and for people to lose their jobs. Joblessness is the biggest problem in this country. There isn't anything being done about it. Instead the economy is going to have more unemployed people.
We really don't have a free market anymore because it didn't work, but this is what most Republicans want. They want the free market back. The free market had no minimum wage, because wages were set as low as a worker would tolerate. The free market has no FDA so people could be poisoned by various products. The free market didn't have The Sherman Anti-Trust Act to outlaw monopolies.Guess what the free market did have? Slaves.
If you are an "at-will" worker you can be fired for anything at anytime. You don't have any protection other than unemployment insurance and Republicans hate that too. Since unions have disappeared the average American worker does not enjoy job security. This is the way people lived before the Great Depression. The Great Depression changed the way people thought about unions. FDR passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the National Labor Relations Act, required business to negotiate fairly with unions.
Since unions have all but vanished and there is no such thing as job security anymore it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where we are headed.
Since American manufacturing has been offshored and the banks have ruined the economy we have an unemployment crises that has only been addressed seriously early in President Obama's first term. Clearly it didn't do enough. Now austerity will start and what do you know? More unemployed people coming into the jobs market that is depressed. How does this make any sense?
The American people have been taken for a ride. I wonder how long it's going to take for people to get a clue and get together and force the will of the people on politicians, who clearly do not have the country's good or the betterment of it's people on their agenda.
During my research I stumbled upon The Precarious Workers Brigade. I guess these people are sick of the austerity in England. They want equal pay and get rid of unpaid internships. They think 1/3 of the workforce are "precarious" workers. Temps, internships, freelancers, and artists. I think we may need an American chapter of The Precarious Workers Brigade. From the looks of it, things aren't going to get any easier in the land of the free, next thing you know we'll be working for free. Unpaid jobs: The new normal? - Fortune Management

3 comments:

"The free market had no minimum wage, because wages were set as low as a worker would tolerate."

Hi Patricia, I absolutely love this quote of yours. Politicians realize that it gets to a point, where men and women in the workforce get so desperate, they will tolerate anything. As much as I dislike some or most of Obama's policies, I applaud him on his stance on minimum wage. I would have liked for him to shoot higher though. I always thought $12/hr was a good starting point. And then shove that down Congress's throat. Unions on the other hand are a different story. Trade unions here in Chicago have lost a decent amount of membership, but still have decent numbers. The problem is we are starting to cannibalize each other. A lot of Unions are fighting each other over different scopes of work. Not to mention that the Brotherhood aspect (Which is why I joined) is all but gone. Union members will now sell there own dignity and morals down the river of it means less lay off time. It is a sad state of affairs, but you just keep fighting for what you believe is right. Excellent post, I loved it.

Hi J.O.B., Maybe the language needs to be changed around unions along with the structure. My daughter gave me this quote about unions, "too pale, male and stale." Change needs to happen and we need to find a way to be inclusive. If people got together and created something, "unionesque" if you will, there might be some hope for change to happen. So far, all I have is hope. When there is so much inequality and so many are suffering, it would be a perfect time for a new movement. People need to educate themselves about why this country is in such a deplorable condition. Then action will happen.

Hi Patricia, I found your blog doing research on the sequester. I'm doing a white paper on how the sequester is effecting the day to day lives of everyday people. If you would be willing to share how the sequester has effected your life it would be a great help. My email is Andrew dot Acista at gmail dot com. Thanks so very much for your input.